The six-year-long Orcish War finally ended. After Orgrim was severely wounded and defeated, most of the Horde lost their will to fight, allowing Alliance soldiers to shackle them.
As for the Forest Trolls, clans like the Revantusk, Rottenfang, and Witherbark had already left the main force during the great retreat and returned to their own territories. Only smaller clans like the Bloodscalp and Firetree remained loyal to Orgrim.
Zul'jin, seeing the tide turn during the battle, led the remaining soldiers of the Amani tribe in an early escape. The Horde's overseers were too preoccupied to deal with them at that point.
Zul'jin and the Amani tribe, who fled north into the Wetlands, were never heard from again. When Andreas heard this news, for a moment, he even had the absurd thought that they might transform from Forest Trolls into Fen Trolls.
Of course, not all Orc clans were willing to accept the Horde's defeat. Many clans fled into the wilderness after the loss, continuing to engage in guerrilla warfare against the Alliance's pursuit forces.
However, these scattered clans were mostly unable to form a significant force, and the Alliance, eager to divide the spoils of war, was too lazy to launch a large-scale military campaign to hunt them down, leaving them to the local security and patrol forces of each nation.
Among these fleeing clans, the most prominent were the Bleeding Hollow and Blackrock clans. The half-crippled Dragonmaw clan also barely counted.
Kilrogg Deadeye, chieftain of the Bleeding Hollow clan, retreated south after escaping Dun Morogh. Because he constantly traveled through deep mountains and old forests, he missed the final decisive battle at Blackrock Mountain, instead bypassing large forests and returning directly to the Black Morass.
With Orgrim severely wounded and captured, the war between the Alliance and the Horde had only one final step to complete – closing the Dark Portal.
"Is this the Dark Portal?"
Khadgar gazed in awe at the magnificent gate standing in the giant crater of the wasteland. The two colossal statues, standing with swords plunged into the ground, and the constantly swirling greenish energy vortex in the center made Khadgar involuntarily swallow.
The southern part of the Black Morass, once rich in moisture, had almost completely lost its vitality. Most of the native creatures nearby had mutated due to fel corruption.
Andreas used his druidic ability to soothe animals to summon a crocodile that originally lived near the swamp. Half of this poor creature's body had turned a mottled green, and the fel corruption made it appear to be in great pain.
Gently stroking the crocodile's body, Andreas tried to inject pure natural energy into it.
"Roar~"
The crocodile twisted its body, letting out an uneasy growl, but under Andreas's animal soothing, it remained relatively calm.
As Andreas advanced to demigod status, his internal energy system underwent a peculiar change. The use of light and darkness no longer required form-switching, as the harmonizing natural energy separated the two mutually exclusive opposing energies.
Now, Andreas could use different light and dark spells with his left and right hands respectively, and the natural energy separated from the shadow energy could also be used independently.
"No," Andreas shook his head regretfully and stood up from his half-crouched position. "The creatures here are severely corrupted by fel energy, and it can't be cleared in a short time. It looks like a group of druids will need to be stationed in this wasteland to try and restore its ecology."
Turalyon's gaze often lingered on Alleria, the high elf representative accompanying the team. His undisguised attention made Alleria frown.
"Ahem~" Noticing his goddess' displeasure, Turalyon cleared his throat and took over. "Coincidentally, the Alliance also plans to send troops to build a fortress in this wasteland to constantly monitor the Dark Portal."
"Your nation's druids can then use the fortress as a base to research and restore this wasteland."
The main Alliance forces, led by Grand Marshal Lothar, successfully returned, and high-ranking captives like Orgrim were also brought back to Lordaeron City for trial.
It must be said that Orgrim was very lucky. Because this Warchief of the Horde still had significant political utility, the priests of Lordaeron used the Light to heal his wounds.
Despite having an arm severed by Lothar and losing a large amount of blood, Orgrim stubbornly survived. However, he had not yet awakened from his severe injury-induced coma.
Turalyon, as one of the Marshal's adjutants, led a third of the forces under Lothar's command, along with the Alliance mages, south to the Black Morass to close the Dark Portal.
Including the Night Elves and High Elves, all participating nations sent a portion of their forces to accompany the team.
The High Elves were led by Alleria and Vereesa, while the Night Elves were led by Andreas himself, with his wife Celeste accompanying him.
Actually, logically speaking, Andreas should have returned to Lordaeron City with Lothar to attend the grand celebration banquet.
But Andreas didn't want to get entangled with the Alliance kings, who were already consumed by greed. He fully entrusted the task of liaising with the Alliance to Niana Starscar, the Night Elf Republic's ambassador to the Alliance, and went south with Turalyon under the pretext of researching the Dark Portal.
Half a month had passed since Andreas and the others arrived in this desolate yellow land. The mages, led by Khadgar, conducted an in-depth study of the Dark Portal, and the conclusions were mixed.
The Dark Portal could be closed; it could be done by spending time destroying the fel energy conduits that powered the gate one by one. But no one could guarantee whether the Horde could reopen it from the other side of the portal.
When the Alliance nations began to argue over the treatment of Horde prisoners and the subsequent division of spoils, Lothar argued forcefully, finally convincing the human kings, whose minds were full of dirty political thoughts, to agree to build a fortress near the Dark Portal for surveillance.
Now, this dry swamp had been given a new name – the Blasted Lands. The already-under-construction Nethergarde Keep would serve as the first line of defense and surveillance for the Dark Portal in the future.
Given the rare opportunity to study the Dark Portal and fel energy, Dalaran had sent many excellent mages this time. Andreas was currently staring at a blond high elf, a meaningful smile on his face.
This "High Elf" wearing red robes felt very uncomfortable under Andreas's gaze. He probably knew that his identity had already been exposed in Andreas's eyes.
Krasus, the name of that high elf mage, though even his own kin didn't know where this Archmage had suddenly appeared from.
Beside Krasus was another young mage bustling about. The mages from Dalaran all avoided this handsome red-haired man.
According to the rumors Andreas had heard, this young mage named Rhonin could not yet properly control the vast magical power within him. Mysterious explosions often occurred when he cast spells, and no one who executed missions with him had a good outcome. Dalaran mages privately called him "the Walking Disaster."
'Krasus and Rhonin, huh?'
Andreas's lips twitched. 'It's time for you two to step onto the stage of history.'
After months of effort, the Dark Portal was finally dismantled.
A massive explosion was triggered from the center of the gate, and the Fel Energy vortex ceased operation under the massive energy outburst. Now, one could look directly through the central frame and see the earthy yellow rocks behind the gate.
Earth-shattering cheers erupted; the closing of the Dark Portal marked the formal end of the Orc War. The Horde members still hiding across Azeroth had lost their way home and would eventually be successfully wiped out by patrol units everywhere.
In the northern part of The Black Marsh, a jungle now renamed The Swamp of Sorrows, Kilrogg personally witnessed the scene of his path home being severed.
After a long silence, Kilrogg silently turned and led the remaining warriors of the Bloodfury Clan deep into the swamp, temporarily establishing a base in this area closest to the Dark Portal.
The Dragonmaw Clan fled quickly enough. Zul'jin and the others retreated back to the other side of the gate before the Alliance pursuit forces arrived.
According to the Scouts Prisim had stationed near the Dark Portal, a familiar group of Black Dragons followed them and also slipped through the gate.
Most members of the Blackrock Clan were captured along with high-ranking officers like Orgrim. The ones now hiding deep within Blackrock Mountain, claiming to be the Blackrock Clan, are actually Rend Blackhand's Blacktooth Clan.
Although Orgrim had ascended through the traditional Orc Mok'gora, Rend always harbored resentment toward the enemy who killed his father.
Seeing Orgrim captured by humans, he immediately jumped out, claimed to be the legitimate heir to the Warchief, and ordered the scattered Orcs near Blackrock Mountain to return to the leadership of the Blackrock Clan.
Quite a few leaderless Orcs actually believed the grand promises he made. Now, Rend's fake Blackrock Clan occupies the upper half of the structures on Blackrock Mountain, maintaining a temporary truce with the Dark Iron Dwarves residing in Blackrock Depths.
Andreas was quite surprised when he first heard this news. In the original history, the Blackrock Orcs were only able to stand against the Dark Iron Dwarves with the support of the Black Dragons.
Logically speaking, the current Blackrock Clan should not be able to contend with the Dark Iron Dwarves, who have a powerful backer, unless... 'Did N'Zoth instruct Ragnaros to go easy, deliberately providing a base for the remnants of the Old Horde to recuperate, so that they can continue stirring up trouble in Azeroth in the future?'
In the original history, Ragnaros and Nefarian were ultimately subordinates of the Old Gods, and their conflict was more like a factional dispute within the Old Gods' system.
The two sides never truly fought in Blackrock Mountain; they merely used their respective slaves to hone their combat strength in incessant warfare.
As for the lives of the Dark Iron Dwarves and the Blackrock Orcs... what are they? To the powerful figures, aren't they just numbers?
Having personally witnessed the destruction of the Dark Portal, Andreas' work in the Eastern Kingdoms was essentially complete.
He notified Fandral to allocate a group of Cenarion Circle Druids to be stationed at the unfinished Keep, both to monitor the Dark Portal's movements and to restore the dismal ecology of the Blasted Lands.
Although the closing of the Dark Portal cut off the Fel Energy erosion originating from Draenor, the vitality of this land was almost completely severed. Even if the Druids worked hard to restore it, there would be no immediate results.
Whether it was historical correction at work or simply due to their personalities, Turalyon and Rhonin both took a liking to Alleria and Vereesa, who had led the High Elves Rangers to the Blasted Lands to survey the situation.
Vereesa was curious about humans, whom she had rarely interacted with before, and her relationship with Rhonin was quite good. Turalyon, however, was having a more miserable time.
Given Alleria's beauty and talent, she would never lack suitors no matter where she went. Turalyon was merely one pair of "big pig trotters" among countless others, and he was quickly and completely ignored by Alleria.
Vereesa didn't actually have romantic feelings for Rhonin; the girl was naturally lively and outgoing, and she generally accepted most human gestures of goodwill.
Before parting ways with Lireesa, Alleria had been specifically warned by her mother. Seeing Vereesa's increasing contact with humans, the Windrunner Eldest Sister decisively took her younger sister and bid farewell to the Alliance.
Turalyon seized the opportunity and said, "Coincidentally, I am also due to return to Lordaeron for my report. We can go together..."
"No need."
Alleria refused with a cold expression. "We plan to take a Night Elves ship north. General Turalyon, let us part ways here. Vereesa, come with me."
"Oh."
Vereesa smiled sweetly and bid farewell to Rhonin and the others who looked reluctant to see her go. "Goodbye, Little Rhonin. Maybe I'll listen to your adventure stories again sometime."
Although Vereesa was still a bit childish due to the spoiling of her two older sisters, she was, after all, several hundred years old. Rhonin could indeed only be considered a junior in front of her. The Night Elf Republic's Third Fleet was already planning to head north back to Suramar, so giving the High Elves a ride was not a problem.
However, it was impossible for Turalyon to let the Night Elves take him along. He still had a mission assigned by Lothar, requiring him to first travel to the ruins of Stormwind City to survey the condition of the wreckage and clear out remaining Orcs with Gavinrad, who had returned to his homeland earlier.
Andreas stepped through the portal, shaking his head helplessly as he watched Turalyon and Rhonin. 'What a tragedy.'
... The Night Elves were ultimately just guest forces to the Alliance. Even though Niana argued strongly, under the strict guard of Terenas the Iron Rooster, the Night Elves failed to gain much benefit.
However, this was already within Andreas' expectations. The goal of this Eastern Campaign was not to gain substantial material benefits, but rather certain intangible returns.
Although the Night Elf Republic's army did not fully display all of its strength due to Andreas' intentional concealment, the physical combat power and Spellcaster strength displayed by the Night Elves in this battle alone already put immense pressure on Terenas and the other kings.
For a long time, humans controlled the fertile territories of the Eastern Kingdoms. The High Elves were closed off for years, and the Night Elves rarely crossed the sea in large numbers to assert their presence. Many Human Supremacists arrogantly believed that humans were already Invincible among the Mortal races.
This war with the Orcs was a slap in the face, making many arrogant people realize that humanity was not as powerful as they had imagined.
Even Dalaran, known as the Kingdom of Magic, was still inferior to the High Elves, who possessed astonishing Arcane power. Furthermore, human physical capabilities were far inferior to the blood-crazed Orcs and the Night Elves in their normal state.
After teleporting back to Lordaeron, Andreas first learned about the Alliance nations' decision regarding the Orc prisoners from Niana.
"Prisoner-of-War Camps, huh?"
Andreas smiled mockingly. 'It appeared after all.'
Building the Orc Prisoner-of-War Camps was actually a conspiracy Terenas had prepared long ago, aiming only to use the burdensome maintenance costs of the camps to drag down other human nations whose overall strength was inferior to his own.
In essence, it was similar to a certain Bald Eagle forcing the creation of enemies for the X Pact, compelling allies to pay for its military expenses.
Gilneas, Stromgarde, and Gilneas all expressed strong opposition. Wealthy Kul Tiras remained neutral. Terenas, invigorated by the recent victory, overrode their objections and passed the proposal with a majority vote, supported by Dalaran, the Kingdom of Stormwind, and Alterac.
'The Kingdom of Stormwind must have been promised Terenas' support for rebuilding their nation, and Dalaran likely received some promise too. As for Alterac...'
Andreas tapped his forehead with a finger. 'Has Barov still not seen Terenas' ambition? He still dares to stand on his side and scheme with the tiger.'
Alterac, right now, has no king.